Are you Prepared for the Snow?
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It is November and the Snow will start falling in the Northeast sometime soon. I am going to provide you with an analogy that helps explain some aspects of weight loss. Cardio may be the most ineffective tool for body composition changes; Trying to lose weight with traditional cardio is like trying to shovel snow with a spoon.
Sounds terribly ineffective and it is! It would take forever to shovel your driveway with a spoon! Just like it takes forever to lose weight doing cardio on that treadmill. You spend hours at the gym for what? a few pounds, maybe.
Does “cardio” burn calories? Yes it does, and actually a good amount of calories. But to put all your eggs in one basket and base your whole weight (read: fat) loss program around steady state cardio is a bad idea and you’re going to end up spinning your wheels and not get anywhere.
A good weight training program is essential to losing weight, especially fat. A program based around compound, total body movements that incorporates the most amount of muscle will burn tons of calories while sparring that lean muscle mass. Muscle mass is extremely hard to put on and it does not happen overnight, it takes months to gain a solid 5 lbs of muscle. So lift heavy and do not be worried of getting bulky.
Muscle is also very metabolically expensive, meaning it takes a lot of energy for your body to maintain that muscle. Your body is smarter than you and actually will want to get rid of muscle, since it is burning energy like a furnace… remember your body wants to be prepared for a famine not getting those abs back.
Lifting heavy gives your body a reason to keep that muscle; this is why weight training is so essential. A good training program is like shoveling that snow with a small shovel. Much more effective but it still takes a while to shovel that driveway.
What you want is a snow blower or a truck with a shovel on it. When it really comes down to it, exercise plays a minor role in body composition changes and fat loss. DIET is the major player. Diet is like the truck with the plow in the front. It will clear your driveway in minutes as opposed to shoveling for hours with the shovel (weight training) or days with the spoon (Cardio). This is what we are all looking for, maximal results in the smallest amount of time.
Instead of working out 5 or 6 days a week doing the elliptical or walking that dog, the BEST thing you could do is CHANGE your DIET.
This is such an important concept, you CANNOT out train a crappy diet, it just does not work. Put your time and effort into eating proportionate meals with lean protein and “slow” carbs, and supplement that with exercise. The plow (diet) will do the majority of the work, and then use the shovel and spoon (exercise) to clean up the messy areas.
Sample Meal
- 4 oz grilled chicken breast
- 1 C spinach
- Red pepper, onion, olive oil topping
- Glass of water or green tea
Note: Cook chicken and topping in bulk beforehand. It can then be used for multiple meals (omlette, chicken, etc.) . Spinach can be frozen or fresh as a salad. The possibilities are endless!
Sample Weight Training
- 20 Push ups *watch video
- 20 Med ball Squat Throws *watch video
Note: 10 min as many rounds as possible. Get as many reps in each set. This is incredibly simple, and incredibly effective. 10 rounds in 10 min anyone????
Sample Cardio
- Run 40 min at 60-80% max HR (220-age)
Note: Again very simple keep heart rate fairly high for the whole duration, you can go upwards to 1 hour.
DO NOT overanalyze things, it is the simple stuff that works. If you cannot do a push up, get stronger so you have to start using your core in the exercise. Remember, the more muscle involved in an exercise, the more calories burned. If you don’t like running do swimming, biking, hill walking, elliptical, etc. The key is keeping the heart rate up for the whole duration.